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Tiger-class Starfury
The Tiger-class Starfury is the third model of Starfury to be invented. Characteristics To put it simply, the Tiger defined what it means to be a Starfury. Unlike the problematic Aries-class Starfury (the first model) or the fast but not very manuverable Flying Fox-class Starfury (the second model), it was the first to use an X-winged design. This greatly improved manuverability over older designs, and it is just as manuverable as all later classes of Starfury. Unlike the later Starfuries, the Tiger's engines are a bit of a compromise between the Flying Fox and the later Nova/Aurora. The four engines are still in the center of the ship, allowing quick acceleration, but three RCS thrusters are located at the end of each of its x-winged struts. Thus, it retains full speed to get away from a fight if one or more of its struts is blown off. The Tiger originally came with a 32mm pulse cannon, light by later ship's standards. However, the mount for the weapon is modular enough to fit two of the Aurora's 40mm pulse cannons. The only reason it had the lighter weapon at all was a less efficient fusion battery than modern ships have. Tiger Starfuries also have a 27mm railgun on a turret, allowing it to make deadly efficient strafing runs on enemy warships. While it is less powerful than the 32mm on the SA-25A Badger Starfury, it is undoubtedly more manuverable than its bomber cousin. Like all Starfuries, the Tiger has eight missile hardpoints, two per wing strut, but since the hardpoints are farther apart than on current designs, it can carry heavier explosives to launch at capital ships. History This agile Starfury was being phased out in favor of the Nova-class Starfury, which is the direct predecessor to the Aurora. However, the Nova lacked the railgun turret, which made it much less effective against capital ships. However, it was perfectly suited to facing Dilgar vessels when their war brought Earth into the conflict. After this war, it left service completely, only remaining in museums and junkyards. One of Ckasaron's agents secretly began refueling and rearming a single Tiger fury in the Orion VII museum, under the guise that it would help visitors imagine what this thing was like in service. Using that excuse, the agent was even able to arm it with eight heavy explosive missiles. In the middle of the night, the agent blew open a wall in the museum and flew his fully refueld Tiger out and it left via the local jumpgate, for Astragon. Once there, it went into mass-production, and Astragonian Tiger squadrons quickly became a force to be reckoned with. They would fly by at breakneck speed, with the railgun turret pointed downward in relation to the cockpit. Thus, a whole Tiger squadron could cause collateral damage to a hostile capital ship. Another ancient design, the Avenger-class Carrier was resurrected to carry whole Tiger squadrons from place to place. It only took a couple of battles against the resurrected Tiger to quickly spread the news to the EA headquarters. Category:Fighters Category:Earth Alliance